Mid-Week Round Up September 17

Today is the Global Day of Action in solidarity with Cambodian garment workers in support of their fight for a higher minimum wage. Events are happening all across the country; in Toronto there is a Lunch Time Rally taking place in front of H&M (427 Queen Street West). For more info or to sign and share the petition check out the link.

Rob Ford has dropped out of the Toronto mayoral race and Doug Ford is in. The Ford saga continues as Doug Ford launches his campaign after announcing his last-minute candidacy this past Friday. Polls so far are showing that all of Rob’s support will extend to his brother, placing him in contention, right alongside Olivia Chow. Rob Ford withdrew his name following hospitalization for an abdominal tumor. Mount Sinai Hospital is expected to provide an update on Ford’s prognosis Wednesday afternoon following a biopsy completed last week. Rob Ford will now run for his old Ward 2 seat on City Council.

Sir John Franklin’s long lost ship has been found, proving that Inuit oral history was right about it’s location all along.

Lupito Nyong’o is the queen of everythingSesame Street. She appeared on the American version of Sesame Street to discuss skin colour (Elmo’s is red!).

(Trigger warning sexual assault) Students and community members at Columbia University continue to rally around Emma Sulkowicz, a senior who will carry a dorm room mattress with her everywhere on campus until her alleged rapist leaves the school or is expelled. The movement began as part of her senior thesis project, “Carry That Weight” and now includes dozens of Emma’s classmates who help her carry the mattress around campus. Despite two other students accusing the alleged perpetrator of sexual assault, a disciplinary panel found him not responsible for the assault in Sulkowicz’s dorm room in August 2012. Sulkowicz is one of 23 students who filed two federal complaints against the University in April. This past Friday there was a rally at the school where hundreds turned out to protest the university’s mishandling of sexual assault on campus.

(Trigger warning domestic violence) The public continues to question the NFL’s (non)response to incidents of domestic violence involving its players. Public outcry has some of the league’s sponsors thinking twice. Last year, Cover Girl partnered with the NFL to develop a line of nail art and makeup based on each team’s colours. This weekend one of their ads was altered to feature a woman in Ravens makeup with a black eye. It was paired with the hashtag #GoodellMustGo, a reference to the league’s commissioner, who has mishandled the Ray Rice case, among others, from the beginning. Similarly, major NFL sponsor Anheuser-Busch issued a statement reprimanding the league for their handling of “behaviors that so clearly go against our own company culture and moral code.”